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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29312298">Day 10: "I'm Sorry, I Didn't Know"</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpiderShell/pseuds/SpiderShell'>SpiderShell</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>FEBUWHUMP 2021: IronDad [10]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Negligent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Poor Peter Parker, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-20 13:15:06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,652</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29312298</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpiderShell/pseuds/SpiderShell</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>He stared at the reflection in the bathroom mirror, eyeing the purpling bruises critically. It had been a day or so since the battle at the airport, but they didn’t seem to be healing as fast as they normally would. His ribs ached every time he breathed and moved, but in a way the pain was good because it reminded him of why he was here. </p>
<p>Why he wasn’t home.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>James "Rhodey" Rhodes &amp; Tony Stark, May Parker (Spider-Man) &amp; Peter Parker, Ned Leeds &amp; Peter Parker, Peter Parker &amp; Tony Stark, Steve Rogers &amp; Tony Stark, Tony Stark &amp; Vision</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>FEBUWHUMP 2021: IronDad [10]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2136318</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>102</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Day 10: "I'm Sorry, I Didn't Know"</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hope you guys enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><em>Peter:</em> </p>
<p>He stared at the reflection in the bathroom mirror, eyeing the purpling bruises critically. It had been a day or so since the battle at the airport, but they didn’t seem to be healing as fast as they normally would. His ribs ached every time he breathed and moved, but in a way the pain was good because it reminded him of why he was here. </p>
<p>Why he wasn’t home. </p>
<p>Slipping on a warm hoodie, one of the few items of clothing he had with him, Peter went into his hotel room’s luxurious bedroom and fell onto the bed, pulling the blanket up with a sigh. He hid his face under a pillow, nose scrunching as a few tears slipped out of his eyes and splashed onto his nose. He missed Aunt May. He missed home. </p>
<p>He just didn’t understand why he was still here. The battle was over, and after all, Mr. Stark had told him that he was done, so why hadn’t he been taken home? Happy was still next door, but he wouldn’t say anything, acting annoyed and inconvenienced whenever Peter knocked on the door. </p>
<p>And where was Mr. Stark? He’d rushed to the hospital when his friend had crashed to the ground, returning to the hotel to grab a few things, looking like death, but had left without speaking to Peter or saying when he’d return. </p>
<p>What had he done wrong?</p>
<p>He just wanted to go home. </p>
<p>He just wanted to go home.</p>
<hr/>
<p><em>Tony:</em> </p>
<p>The CT scanner hummed as his best friend lay inside, broken, paralyzed. Tony, never one for emotion, fought to blink back tears as he watched Rhodey’s wide, scared eyes flick about. This man was a colonel in the Air Force - he shouldn’t be here right now. </p>
<p>Tony wondered if he was wrong. Maybe he should’ve just let Steve go without a fight. </p>
<p>No. He couldn’t get sappy. He knew which side he stood on, and he knew that Steve was wrong, They’d been friends, but it appeared that Steve needed a fight to be able to see reason, And then some. </p>
<p>Vision came in, standing beside Tony, somber-faced. </p>
<p>“How did this happen?” Tony said, bitter agony surfacing with his words. </p>
<p>“I became distracted,” Vision replied. He looked devastated, glancing at Tony before returning to watch Rhodey. </p>
<p>Tony looked up at Vision, anger burning in his eyes. “I didn’t think that was possible.” Part of him knew that he shouldn’t blame Vision for Rhodey’s accident, but another part of him was willing to blame whoever was nearest for what he, Tony Stark, should have been able to fix, should have been able to stop. </p>
<p>Where had he gone wrong? </p>
<p>He turned on his heel and left the room.</p>
<hr/>
<p><em>Peter:</em> </p>
<p>Peter flicked through images of Aunt May and Ned on his phone, sniffling as he found one that had been taken last Christmas. Ned had come over for dinner, and the three had had the best time, playing games, talking, laughing. </p>
<p>His chest ached. Five days had gone by. </p>
<p>It was the longest he’d ever been away from home; once he had stayed over at Ned’s house two days in a row, but that had been the limit. He’d give anything to be home right now. </p>
<p>The suit that Mr. Stark had given him lay on one of those horrible orange chairs, forgotten. </p>
<p>His wounds hadn’t healed.</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <em>Tony:</em>
</p>
<p>Pain. Burning, excruciating pain. He couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t talk. Was he dying?</p>
<p>Tony’s eyes flew open with a gasp, and he looked up to see dark concrete. He was lying on the cold ground of an underground bunker in Siberia in what was the remains of his Iron Man suit. </p>
<p>What had happened?</p>
<p>Oh, right. </p>
<p>Anger roared up in him, burning to almost a breaking point. He’d fought Steve and Bucky after he found out that his parents had been murdered by the one and only Winter Soldier, and then they had left him for dead, alone in the middle of nowhere with a broken body, while they fled to who-knows-where. </p>
<p>He slowly sat up, pressing the release button on his suit that freed him from the constraining mess of metal. </p>
<p>How was he going to get out of here?</p>
<p>He just wanted to be home.</p>
<hr/>
<p><em>Peter:</em> </p>
<p>Six days. Mr. Stark was still gone (no one had heard from him - Peter had finally gotten that information from Happy) and he found himself terrified for his hero’s wellbeing. </p>
<p>He’d initially thought that Mr. Stark had abandoned him, but now he feared that something more dark and dangerous had happened. Was he dead? Was he injured? Did he need Spider-Man? Was he coming back?</p>
<p>He still wondered if he’d done anything wrong, his wounds were still taking forever to heal, and he still was so overwhelmingly homesick that at times he wondered if he had a fever. </p>
<p>Take me home, please.</p>
<hr/>
<p><em>Tony:</em> </p>
<p>As soon as he’d reached some sort of civilisation, he’d called Happy, who had immediately sent transportation to bring him back to Germany. In the middle of his forehead of security’s flustered concern, the kid, Peter, had been mentioned, and realisation had hit him like a ton of bricks. </p>
<p>The kid. </p>
<p>Oh, gosh. </p>
<p>He was still in Germany. Why had he not told Happy to take him home as soon as the airport battle was over? Peter was fourteen - he needed to be home, go to school. </p>
<p>He was ashamed that he’d forgotten, so he didn’t mention the kid again to Happy, promising himself that he’d go to Peter and explain as soon as he got back. </p>
<p>Well, he’d certainly messed things up, hadn’t he?</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <em>Both:</em>
</p>
<p>It was early evening and Peter had just turned down another meal when a knock came on his door. Exhausted, heat burning on his forehead, he shuffled over to the door, and opened it. </p>
<p>Mr. Stark stood outside, leaning on a crutch, his face peppered with bruises. “Hey, kid,” he said, his voice sounding tired and old, and Peter wondered what had happened to him. </p>
<p>“Hi Mr. Stark,” he answered quietly, dropping his eyes. </p>
<p>Tony shifted, leaning more heavily on the crutch. “Can I come in?” he asked. </p>
<p> “Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course,” Peter said, backing up and almost colliding with a cupboard behind him in his rush to clear the doorway for his mentor. </p>
<p>"Whoa, Parker," Tony said, shuffling forward and leaning against a table. "Calm down. I'm not going to hurt you." Now that he was looking at Peter, he realised the kid didn't look so good: pale face, dark circles around his red eyes, tousled and messy hair, clothes that looked like they were literally hanging off him. And he was holding himself as if he were in pain. </p>
<p>"Hey, kid, are you alright?" he asked, voice tinged with concern. The boy raised his head, met his eyes to nod wordlessly, and dropped his gaze. </p>
<p>Tony knew that was a lie. "Come on, let's sit down," he suggested, touching Peter's arm and hobbling to a couch. He eased onto the soft cushions with a sigh, patting the spot beside him to encourage the kid to sit down. His hand touched something solid, and he looked to see Peter's phone lying to the right, a photo on the screen. Picking up the device to look closer, he realised it was a selfie of Peter, his aunt May, and a boy he had never seen before. Peter looked so happy, so carefree, so healthy, and as he glanced up at the shadow of the boy who had been, the realisation hit him. </p>
<p>"You're homesick," he breathed, dropping the phone back like it had burned him. "I'm so sorry. I should have gotten Happy to take you back. This is my fault."</p>
<p>"It's okay," Peter whispered with dark eyes that were soft and sad. "I've just never been away from home for this long before."</p>
<p><em>Oh.</em>. "Oh," Tony said, watching the tired look on the boy's face. "I'm sorry, I didn't know."</p>
<p>"'s okay," came the murmured response as Peter leaned against the nearest wall, surreptitiously reaching a hand to touch his forehead. </p>
<p>Tony rose to his feet and made his way over to the boy, reaching out his own hand to feel Peter's forehead. It was burning. </p>
<p>"Oh my gosh, Peter!" Tony exclaimed. "You're burning up! Why didn't you say anything? Let's get you to a bed." He grabbed hold of Peter's elbow and pulled him to the huge queen bed in the next room, drawing back the covers, and pushed the boy onto it. "I'm going to get you some water and medicine," he said, excusing himself briefly. When he returned, Peter was lying listlessly on the bed, large eyes blinking sleepily at the ceiling. </p>
<p>"Here, drink this," he said, handing over the water and pills, watching until Peter had downed both. "Now go to sleep. We're going back to New York first thing in the morning."</p>
<p>Peter visibly relaxed, one small tear slipping out of his eye. He buried his nose in the blankets and glanced up at Tony. "Thank you," he whispered, his voice breaking. </p>
<p>"It's okay," Tony replied, smiling briefly before standing up to head put. </p>
<p>A hand shot out and grabbed his wrist. "Please stay," Peter murmured, eyes swimming. "I don't want to be alone anymore."</p>
<p>Tony's heart broke at the quiet admission. Hard man that he was, he hated that he had hurt this sweet, sensitive boy and he swore to himself that he’d do anything to fix it.. "Of course," he answered, sitting back down. He moved one of his hands to Peter's hair, gently easing out the knots. </p>
<p>Peter's eyes slipped shut, and his grip on Tony's wrist loosened. His face relaxed, and for the first time in a week, he looked happier.</p>
<p>Tony smiled, watching the boy sleep. He didn't leave the boy's side until the very next morning.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Love you guys, and see ya tomorrow!! ✌🤟</p></blockquote></div></div>
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